Church tribute to soldiers .... both later found alive

Parents told Royal Scots pair killed in action

Two soldiers whose apparent deaths in action were subject of a pulpit tribute were found to be alive.

The men were sons of Chief Inspector Tom McLaren and Inspector James Grey, Caledonian Railway Company, who were well known in Stirling before being promoted to jobs in Stirling.

Their sons, John Grey and Tom McLaren, worked as ticket examiners at Perth Station and after joining up were in the same company of the Royal Scots and involved in the big push at Cambrai in November and December of 1917.

Following that action, both sets of parents were officially notified the pair had been killed in action.

“They were mourned as lost and a pulpit tribute was paid,” said the Observer.

However, weeks later, relatives of Pte Grey received a postcard in his handwriting stating he was a Prisoner of War in Germany .

A few days later, a second postcard from Germany arrived, dictated by Pte McLaren, saying he was alive. Another postcard followed.

Inspector McLaren contacted the military authorities who acknowledged the postcards were proof that his son was a PoW, and apologised for the incorrect report of his death.

Meanwhile, Robert Moodie, a gunner, in the Australian Field Artillery, who was from London, appeared at Stirling’s Police Court charged with stealing three £1 Treasury Notes from the private office of a house in Irvine Place, Stirling. He was remanded in custody.

And Robert Coyle, pit drawer, also appeared before the court charged with being an absentee from HMS Dolphin. The court was told he left HMS Dolphin on November 19, 1917, failed to return, and was apprehended at his sister’s house in St Mary’s Wynd, Stirling. He was sent to prison to await the arrival of a military escort.